Toddler shoots younger brother

**AgentOrange** · May 28th, 2009, 07:54 AM

BBC NEWS | Americas | US toddler shoots younger brother

A three-year-old girl in the US state of California has accidentally shot her younger brother dead with a gun found in her home, say police.
The girl is believed to have found the .45 calibre semi-automatic handgun under her parents' bed.
Her two-year-old brother was taken to Kern County hospital with a critical chest wound but later died.
Police investigating the incident said the children's mother had been at home at the time.
Police Sgt Greg Terry said police would be looking at whether the weapon had been safely and securely secured.
"It's so important that if you're going to have firearms in your possession, make sure they're stored safely, so that incidents like this don't occur," local media quoted Sgt Terry as saying.

**McJag** · May 28th, 2009, 07:55 AM

Parents need to be pistol whipped.

**celeb_2006** · May 28th, 2009, 07:58 AM

Another kids and guns story. Sad.

**Sasha** · May 28th, 2009, 08:01 AM

This is why I have never allowed guns in my house.

**WhateverLolaWants** · May 28th, 2009, 08:57 AM

Under your BED? UNDER YOUR BED!?!?! I usually try to give the parents the benefit of the doubt but COME ON. Who thinks thats a safe place to keep a gun when you have kids?

**cmmdee** · May 28th, 2009, 08:59 AM

Parents of the year

**AgentOrange** · May 28th, 2009, 01:02 PM

I assume they must've left it lying around loaded, in addition to having it improperly stored.

**MrsDark** · May 28th, 2009, 01:08 PM

You can have a gun in your house without this happening. But not if the people in question are stupid beyond belief.

**sputnik** · May 28th, 2009, 01:19 PM

hellooo? most people are at least semi-stupid and can't be trusted to own a gun. that is why i'm against gun ownership. i don't have enough faith in humanity to trust them with a deadly weapon.

**MrsDark** · May 28th, 2009, 01:34 PM

Acceptance of the existence (and even occasional usefulness or necessity) of guns instead of making them so unforgivably taboo and non-PC, relegating their ownership, use and handling to criminal behavior and those choosing to live outside the law might prompt more responsible ownership.

I think there's no excuse for anyone in possession of a gun not to thoroughly know how to handle and store it. I'm all for coming down as hard as possible on the people who let stupid shit like this happen, but not for taking away rights. When they can manage to take them away from everyone (including soldiers) then maybe I'll relent on this issue. I'd love nothing more than a world where there were no need for weapons of any kind. But as long as humanity is that horrible, then I at least want the right to stand a chance in hell of defending myself or loved ones if I choose. Even if it means some morons get flushed out of the gene pool occasionally. Call me selfish, evil, etc.

This is one of those neverending issues that people will never agree upon. But believe it or not, there are hard cores in either direction on this I can't bring myself to agree with.

**sputnik** · May 28th, 2009, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by MrsDark

Acceptance of the existence (and even occasional usefulness or necessity) of guns instead of making them so unforgivably taboo and non-PC, relegating their ownership, use and handling to criminal behavior and those choosing to live outside the law might prompt more responsible ownership.

are you saying it's the anti-gun lobby that's to blame for this?

look at all the other western, developed nations where guns are taboo and non-PC. this way of thinking hasn't led to more gun violence. just the opposite.
what i find fucked up is the idea of associating gun ownership with freedom. that's so fundamentally flawed i don't even know where to begin. and you could say that it speaks volumes about the violence inherent to a culture, if they glorify gun culture so much... but i doubt the gun lobby would be happy to admit that. maybe that's the difference between the US and, say, canada when it comes to the staggering difference in gun crimes committed on both sides of the border.

**MrsDark** · May 28th, 2009, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by sputnik

are you saying it's the anti-gun lobby that's to blame for this?

No. A stupid and irresponsible person who had no business owning a gun is to blame for this. But once upon a time, learning all about guns and how to handle properly (including NOT TOUCH AT ALL if you didn't) wasn't tantamount to child abuse or turning your kid into some kind of killer or deviant.

I'll be willing to bet people get killed doing stupid things at a pretty even rate in "anti-gun" countries. And sometimes probably <gasp> with guns.

There's lots of stuff that if left lying around a kid could kill himself or another with. Especially if unsupervised as well. Learned a healthy fear/respect for what guns could do at an early age and it's a good thing, growing up in an area where it wasn't unusual to visit the house of a neighbor who had one by the back door or who hunted, with whatever they'd be eating for dinner shot and cooked that day. Wouldn't have dreamed of touching one of those guns. Nor would the other kids. We all survived.

**sputnik** · May 28th, 2009, 02:07 PM

^^^^
yeah but much less often with guns. just check the statistics.
there is no western country with a gun lobby comparable to the US, or where the gun debate is such a cultural battlefield.

**MrsDark** · May 28th, 2009, 02:12 PM

If I'd grown up differently, I'm sure I'd feel differently. If I lived in another country, perhaps it wouldn't matter as much to me either.

**WhateverLolaWants** · May 28th, 2009, 02:17 PM

I know I've mentioned this before, but when I lived in New Zealand, where guns are outlawed, a guy delivering pizza was shot in the face in my neighborhood.

Outlawing guns doesn't mean no guns...it just means the guns are there illegally.